Faculty Profiles
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Kate Jastram
Title: Lecturer in Residence; Senior Fellow, Miller Institute for Global Challenges and the Law
Office: 314 Boalt Hall
Tel: 510-642-5980
Email Address: kjastram@law.berkeley.edu
FSU Contact: Stephanie Dorton
Kate Jastram, an expert on refugee, migration, and human rights law, joined the Boalt Hall faculty in 2002. Following graduation from Boalt, she practiced immigration and nationality law in San Francisco and directed a pro bono asylum program in Minneapolis. From 1991-2001, Jastram was a legal advisor to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Geneva, Switzerland and Washington, D.C. While representing UNHCR in bilateral and multilateral negotiations, she was responsible for crafting legal and policy positions to assist governments in fulfilling their international obligations toward refugees.
Jastram has served as an expert on asylum issues for the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, an independent bi-partisan federal agency, since 2003. In 2005, she was a co-recipient of the Arthur C. Helton Human Rights Award, awarded by the American Immigration Lawyers Association in recognition of outstanding service in advancing the cause of human rights. She serves on the Ninth Circuit's Immigration Working Group, and acts as a mentor for the asylum program of the San Francisco Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights. She recently co-wrote an amicus brief on behalf of UNHCR for the Board of Immigration Appeals in the case of Thomas v Gonzales.
Her scholarly interests focus on the challenges states face in balancing protection for forced migrants with migration management and national security concerns. Her recent work includes co-authoring a Congressionally-authorized empirical study for the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, the Report on Asylum Seekers in Expedited Removal (2005); "Family unity" in Migration and International Legal Norms (Aleinikoff and Chetail, eds., 2003); "Considering the Circumstances: The Credibility of Prior Statements under the REAL ID Act", in Bender's Immigration Bulletin (2005); and co-authoring "Human Rights in Refugee Tribunals" in the Refugee Survey Quarterly (2005).
Jastram teaches courses in refugee law, global migration issues, national security and international protection, immigration law, and international human rights.
Education:
B.A., San Francisco State University (1980)M.A., Sarah Lawrence College (1982)
J.D., UC Berkeley (Boalt Hall) (1986)
